What do you think?
Rate this book
X-Men: Age of Revelation
X-Men: Age of Revelation - Overture
X years later, the heir of Apocalypse reigns!
Former New Mutant Doug Ramsey played a vital role as the voice of Krakoa. In the wake of its fall, he became the heir of Apocalypse. Then Cyclops’ X-Men welcomed him into their ranks. And that’s where it all went wrong! As Revelation, Doug is tasked with ensuring that only the fit survive — and only mutants are fit to survive! X years later, he and his Choristers hold power in the Revelation Territories — and the world around them is transformed! The remnants of the X-Men enact a desperate scheme to reshape the status quo, and the help of an unexpected ally may turn the tables! What has become of Emma Frost and Tony Stark? After 3K’s devastating terrorist attack cost them everything, the Heartless Queen returns to what remains of her past. But secrets hide in the ruins of New York, and the Hellfire Club has a dangerous new leader! Why has Laura Kinney abandoned the legacy of Wolverine and taken on the guise of his bitter enemy, Sabretooth? With the universe crumbling, Binary returns to save what’s left. But power this great always comes with a price. Will the end of everything begin with her? And the biggest question of all: Cloak or Dagger?! Tandy and Tyrone have tied the knot — but their bond has come with a terrible cost. Now they can no longer exist on the same plane at the same time!
COLLECTING: X-Men: Age of Revelation (2025) #0, X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture (2025) #1, Amazing X-Men (2025) #1-3, Binary (2025) #1-3, Cloak or Dagger (2025) #1-3, Iron & Frost (2025) #1-3, Laura Kinney: Sabretooth (2025) #1-3
Written by Jed Mackay, Cavan Scott, Erica Schultz, Stephanie Phillips, Justina Ireland & Cavan Scott
Penciled by Humberto Ramos, Ryan Stegman, Mahmud Asrar, Ruairí Coleman, Valentina Pinto, Giada Belviso & Lorenzo Tammetta
Former New Mutant Doug Ramsey played a vital role as the voice of Krakoa. In the wake of its fall, he became the heir of Apocalypse. Then Cyclops’ X-Men welcomed him into their ranks. And that’s where it all went wrong! As Revelation, Doug is tasked with ensuring that only the fit survive — and only mutants are fit to survive! X years later, he and his Choristers hold power in the Revelation Territories — and the world around them is transformed! The remnants of the X-Men enact a desperate scheme to reshape the status quo, and the help of an unexpected ally may turn the tables! What has become of Emma Frost and Tony Stark? After 3K’s devastating terrorist attack cost them everything, the Heartless Queen returns to what remains of her past. But secrets hide in the ruins of New York, and the Hellfire Club has a dangerous new leader! Why has Laura Kinney abandoned the legacy of Wolverine and taken on the guise of his bitter enemy, Sabretooth? With the universe crumbling, Binary returns to save what’s left. But power this great always comes with a price. Will the end of everything begin with her? And the biggest question of all: Cloak or Dagger?! Tandy and Tyrone have tied the knot — but their bond has come with a terrible cost. Now they can no longer exist on the same plane at the same time!
COLLECTING: X-Men: Age of Revelation (2025) #0, X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture (2025) #1, Amazing X-Men (2025) #1-3, Binary (2025) #1-3, Cloak or Dagger (2025) #1-3, Iron & Frost (2025) #1-3, Laura Kinney: Sabretooth (2025) #1-3
Written by Jed Mackay, Cavan Scott, Erica Schultz, Stephanie Phillips, Justina Ireland & Cavan Scott
Penciled by Humberto Ramos, Ryan Stegman, Mahmud Asrar, Ruairí Coleman, Valentina Pinto, Giada Belviso & Lorenzo Tammetta
400 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 14, 2026
Eh, not great. I may just be getting tired of the future X-Men stories at this point. There's been so many. You know they are never going to come to pass. This one has Doug Ramsey taking over mutantkind as Apocalypse's heir. Then there's just a bunch of 3 issue stories, none of which have any depth as they are only 3 issues. Most of the art is REALLY suspect as well. That's one of the largest differences you see between DC and Marvel these days. DC apparently pays a living wage while Marvel must pay in Subway coupons or something because I haven't heard of 75% of their artists and there is a reason why. They aren't ready for the big time yet.
May 20, 2026
The Cloak and Dagger issues save this entire collection.
May 20, 2026
The first of three chunky books collecting the entirety of the Age of Revelation, this book, unsurprisingly with a title like Overture, starts off the whole thing.
We get the Age of Revelation #0 and Overture #1 one-shots, which set the scene. Cyclops and Beast are dragged 10 years forward in time to a new timeline where Revelation, the transformed heir of Apocalypse Doug Ramsey, has essentially taken over half of the US, forced humans out, and enslaved or mind-wiped any mutant that disagrees with him. It's a bold premise, different enough from the usual 'awful future' timeline that the X-Men get dragged into, and these two one-shots stage it well. Unsurprising, given that they're both written by X-Men writer Jed MacKay, with art by Humberto Ramos and Ryan Stegman respectively.
Then we're off into a mire of 3 issue mini-series that tie-in and expand the world of Revelation (no, that's the third book, I can't say that yet, damn it).
First up, Amazing X-Men, also by MacKay with art by Mahmud Asrar. You can usually tell which of these tie-in books are the 'important' ones, because they're written by the main writer of the rest of the series, and Amazing X-Men is no exception. It picks up directly from the end of Overture #1, depicting the journey Cyke and Beast take across the US towards hopefully a way home, and ends on a cliffhanger 'Go Read The Other Books' type page. Asrar's art's superb, because he's no stranger to big Marvel books, of course, and this is is a good follow-up to the strong start to the volume.
Next is Binary, by Phoenix writer Stephanie Phillips, with art by Giada Belviso, most recently of Laura Kinney: Wolverine. These four issues focus in on the one town in all of the eastern seaboard that has been spared by the X-Virus, because Jean Grey gave her Phoenix powers to Carol Danvers, who used them to save her hometown. Solid idea, Carol, well done. While Phillips didn't get to write a big Maddie Pryor story in her Phoenix solo series, this is her doing that - thankfully, she doesn't forget that Carol is the main character of the book, so it's another solid entry, if a little segregated from the rest of the world of Revelation (damn it, I did it again!) by the nature of the plot.
Then we have Cloak Or Dagger, by Justina Ireland and Lorenzo Tammetta (though the poor guy can't manage to draw all three issues in totality, so the art takes a bit of a dive in the final issue). The idea here is solid - Cloak and Dagger, now married with a child, can't stay on the same plane of existence for too long or else they start to unravel. They're trying to save civilians from the X-Virus, until they're targeted by Fenris, those two creepy incest twins. Great little story set amongst the backdrop of the larger world, though easily one of the more skippable ones in the grand scheme of things.
Iron Frost, by Cavan Scott and Ruairi Coleman, feels like a book that should have been written by Gerry Duggan since it pulls on threads from his Iron Man run. The relationship between Tony and Emma is meant to be the focus here, but it's only really on display at the beginning and the end. The middle is then some kind of weird commentary on AI and the lack of empathy in machines, but it's mostly just one long fight scene instead. Not great overall, but I like the idea.
And lastly, Erica Schultz and Valentina Pinti give us Laura Kinney: Sabretooth, which feels a lot like Schultz's run on Wolverine just before this - not as good as it could have been. I don't know how many times one character can be mind controlled before she just stops talking to people, honestly. Poor Laura can't catch a break. I did like seeing Gabby and Akihiro as secondary players though, even if the ending's a bit of a downer.
A solid start, though lags a bit in the latter half - given how many series tie into Age of Revelation, they're not all gonna be winners, but there's more good than bad here, and the bad isn't even really bad, it's just...okay.
We get the Age of Revelation #0 and Overture #1 one-shots, which set the scene. Cyclops and Beast are dragged 10 years forward in time to a new timeline where Revelation, the transformed heir of Apocalypse Doug Ramsey, has essentially taken over half of the US, forced humans out, and enslaved or mind-wiped any mutant that disagrees with him. It's a bold premise, different enough from the usual 'awful future' timeline that the X-Men get dragged into, and these two one-shots stage it well. Unsurprising, given that they're both written by X-Men writer Jed MacKay, with art by Humberto Ramos and Ryan Stegman respectively.
Then we're off into a mire of 3 issue mini-series that tie-in and expand the world of Revelation (no, that's the third book, I can't say that yet, damn it).
First up, Amazing X-Men, also by MacKay with art by Mahmud Asrar. You can usually tell which of these tie-in books are the 'important' ones, because they're written by the main writer of the rest of the series, and Amazing X-Men is no exception. It picks up directly from the end of Overture #1, depicting the journey Cyke and Beast take across the US towards hopefully a way home, and ends on a cliffhanger 'Go Read The Other Books' type page. Asrar's art's superb, because he's no stranger to big Marvel books, of course, and this is is a good follow-up to the strong start to the volume.
Next is Binary, by Phoenix writer Stephanie Phillips, with art by Giada Belviso, most recently of Laura Kinney: Wolverine. These four issues focus in on the one town in all of the eastern seaboard that has been spared by the X-Virus, because Jean Grey gave her Phoenix powers to Carol Danvers, who used them to save her hometown. Solid idea, Carol, well done. While Phillips didn't get to write a big Maddie Pryor story in her Phoenix solo series, this is her doing that - thankfully, she doesn't forget that Carol is the main character of the book, so it's another solid entry, if a little segregated from the rest of the world of Revelation (damn it, I did it again!) by the nature of the plot.
Then we have Cloak Or Dagger, by Justina Ireland and Lorenzo Tammetta (though the poor guy can't manage to draw all three issues in totality, so the art takes a bit of a dive in the final issue). The idea here is solid - Cloak and Dagger, now married with a child, can't stay on the same plane of existence for too long or else they start to unravel. They're trying to save civilians from the X-Virus, until they're targeted by Fenris, those two creepy incest twins. Great little story set amongst the backdrop of the larger world, though easily one of the more skippable ones in the grand scheme of things.
Iron Frost, by Cavan Scott and Ruairi Coleman, feels like a book that should have been written by Gerry Duggan since it pulls on threads from his Iron Man run. The relationship between Tony and Emma is meant to be the focus here, but it's only really on display at the beginning and the end. The middle is then some kind of weird commentary on AI and the lack of empathy in machines, but it's mostly just one long fight scene instead. Not great overall, but I like the idea.
And lastly, Erica Schultz and Valentina Pinti give us Laura Kinney: Sabretooth, which feels a lot like Schultz's run on Wolverine just before this - not as good as it could have been. I don't know how many times one character can be mind controlled before she just stops talking to people, honestly. Poor Laura can't catch a break. I did like seeing Gabby and Akihiro as secondary players though, even if the ending's a bit of a downer.
A solid start, though lags a bit in the latter half - given how many series tie into Age of Revelation, they're not all gonna be winners, but there's more good than bad here, and the bad isn't even really bad, it's just...okay.
October 9, 2026
I generally like a High Concept Event but unless you can achieve consistently good storytelling across a diversity of creative teams they sometimes fall flat.
That said, I enjoyed this table-setting volume enough to follow where it leads.
That said, I enjoyed this table-setting volume enough to follow where it leads.
Did Not Finish
September 14, 2026The consensus on Age of Revelation seems to be that it's a decent MacKay X-Men story done no favours by being expanded into an event, so I didn't see the need to read Binary or Laura Kinney miniseries pushing books I'm not reading anyway into yet another dark future that, unlike our own, won't be sticking around. I did attempt the Cloak & Dagger story, because I like the characters, which was a mistake. Worse: I read the whole of the Tony Stark/Emma Frost mini, not because I have any particular investment in that typically crappy Duggan plotline, but because it's written by Cavan Scott, whose Union Jack The Ripper was a great example of what you can achieve with a peripheral tie-in to a middling event. Alas, he does not equal that feat here, instead giving us three overly compressed issues of weightless shouting.
But what about the main event? Yeah. Fundamentally I still don't buy the notion of Doug Ramsey as Apocalypse's heir, on which the whole thing turns. It's a cheap reversal, not a resonant one; there are interesting things you can do with Cypher as a historically pretty innocent and harmless character (as so often, just look at Krakoa), but this is even sillier than that period where they decided movement was a language so he's an expert martial artist now. And nested within that fundamental implausibility are more; a plague turning humans into mutants, or else killing them, is fine (if a blatant Wild Cards steal), but saying that it also leaves affected territory incapable of supporting flatscan life is nonsense unless all the new mutants have some specific difference in how they gain nourishment which pushes them much further from sapiens than most of the established Marvel mutants.
That much of the set-up, I suspect may have been editorially mandated, which is to say, I like MacKay so I'm trying not to blame him for it. But within that, he does find some potential, mainly by mirroring the Doug situation with a much more entertaining version of the same scenario where loveable lunk Glob Herman, X years into the future, is now a ruthless hardcase a la Cable, unimpressed by Cyclops who, as his present day consciousness in his Age of Revelation body, Herman can bollock for being a hopeless rookie. But of course, MacKay has always given good Cyclops, so Scott soon gets to prove he's still got it. Yes, there are still some of the characteristic problems of the suhsubgenre (character deaths that won't stick for cheap drama), and yes, it's still surrounded by an awful lot of crap. But within that, enough to enjoy that I'll keep following the main thread.
But what about the main event? Yeah. Fundamentally I still don't buy the notion of Doug Ramsey as Apocalypse's heir, on which the whole thing turns. It's a cheap reversal, not a resonant one; there are interesting things you can do with Cypher as a historically pretty innocent and harmless character (as so often, just look at Krakoa), but this is even sillier than that period where they decided movement was a language so he's an expert martial artist now. And nested within that fundamental implausibility are more; a plague turning humans into mutants, or else killing them, is fine (if a blatant Wild Cards steal), but saying that it also leaves affected territory incapable of supporting flatscan life is nonsense unless all the new mutants have some specific difference in how they gain nourishment which pushes them much further from sapiens than most of the established Marvel mutants.
That much of the set-up, I suspect may have been editorially mandated, which is to say, I like MacKay so I'm trying not to blame him for it. But within that, he does find some potential, mainly by mirroring the Doug situation with a much more entertaining version of the same scenario where loveable lunk Glob Herman, X years into the future, is now a ruthless hardcase a la Cable, unimpressed by Cyclops who, as his present day consciousness in his Age of Revelation body, Herman can bollock for being a hopeless rookie. But of course, MacKay has always given good Cyclops, so Scott soon gets to prove he's still got it. Yes, there are still some of the characteristic problems of the suhsubgenre (character deaths that won't stick for cheap drama), and yes, it's still surrounded by an awful lot of crap. But within that, enough to enjoy that I'll keep following the main thread.
November 11, 2026
An interesting, dark possible future where Doug Ramsey, now Revelation, aka the "Heir of Apocalypse," has turned the eastern coast of America into a supposed safe space for mutants. There are pockets of resistance, and some of the accompanying books here show different aspects of that resistance. There isn't a lot of hopefulness in any of this so far. Lots of people dying, former friends turning on each other, etc. It's a lot and, given how these things usually go, none of it is going to matter by the end (everything will be reset to the status quo). But I enjoyed it and somehow, the stars aligned, because I managed to get all three volumes in this series from the local public library at about the same time. So it's on to volume 2 for me now...
June 11, 2026
I don’t understand low reviews for this book unless the review is based on when this event launched in the individual issues. I know entire story arcs were disrupted as this arc ran along all relevant X-titles. What is here operates as a languishing influence of Krakoa on Douglas Ramsey as his own inherited power from Apocalypse corrupts him. Much like other Marvel alternate timelines, the stakes rely heavily on the heroes’ ability to prevent the timeline from happening but the joy for readers lies in piecing together the larger impact these changes had on the United States and Marvel’s cast of characters.
July 13, 2026
3.5 Stars.
While I do appreciate the idea of the overarching storyline, this feels a little like a nostalgia grab. I can also see that many of these side stories are probably going to be hit or miss. (Note: If I get through the first issue of one of the side stories and I don't like it, I'll skip it and make note in my review.) I'll comment on the complete story more in the review of the final omnibus Volume.
Highlights:
X-Men: Age of Revelation #0/Overture #1
- Gives a good overview of what happened. Doug Ramsey (Revelation) joins the X-Men and it goes to shit. The X-Virus gets unleashed by 3k (actually Revelation) and it decimates much of humanity, creating a kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland of the world, with the exception of Philadelphia and much of the East Coast of the US where Revelation has set up a mutant "utopia". The X-Men (Animalia, Archangel, Beast, Cyclops, Forge, Glob Herman, Magneto, Xorn, and Schwarzschild) stand against Revelation and his Seraphim. The X-Men bring the consciousness of both Cyclops and Beast into their future counterparts to teach them what has happened so they can potentially stop it.
Amazing X-Men
- This is the core X-Men book of this era and you can tell. We find out Wolverine is now the feral Angel of Death for Revelation. Psylocke defects from Revelation's side, informing Cyclops that Doug means to take over the whole world. Scott brings Darkchild (Magik) back to his side through a brutal mental battle. We are left with a cliffhanger of Apocalypse and Professor X arriving in Philadelphia together.
Binary
- Jean apparently caught the X-Virus and decided to give the power of the Phoenix to Carol Danvers. There is some battling against Madelyne Prior, but Jean is ultimately able to heal and gain the Phoenix back. Carol looks fantastic as a Phoenix enhanced Binary form of Captain Marvel.
Cloak or Dagger
- Got about 4 pages into this and decided to not read it. Cloak and Dagger aren't characters I normally read.
Iron & Frost
- WOW, this was fantastic. Emma is almost killed in the destruction of Avengers Mansion, and thus has to remain in diamond form so she doesn't die (kind of like Tony's arc reactor and the bullets). Tony loses it seeing her "die" and eventually is overtaken by his own AI, becoming the Iron King. When Emma returns to the fold, she eventually dons the War Machine armor against Tony and has to sacrifice herself to bring Tony back to himself. He sends a message to current day Tony warning him about all to come.
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth
- Laura has not only adopted the Sabretooth persona, but is also a Seraph of Revelation. She still keeps a relationship with Gabby and Akihiro, though they refuse to acknowledge Doug's reign. Laura gives her son Alex to them because they are going to escape to Arrako and she feels he will be safer away from Revelation. There is a huge fight on Arakko and Alex gets his powers for the first time, earning the respect and trust of Apocalypse. Not sure if Laura will go back to being a Seraph.
Overall, a good start to the universe and storyline. I hope the side stories stay interesting and we are given enough of the overall story in each Volume to keep the pace going.
Recommend.
While I do appreciate the idea of the overarching storyline, this feels a little like a nostalgia grab. I can also see that many of these side stories are probably going to be hit or miss. (Note: If I get through the first issue of one of the side stories and I don't like it, I'll skip it and make note in my review.) I'll comment on the complete story more in the review of the final omnibus Volume.
Highlights:
X-Men: Age of Revelation #0/Overture #1
- Gives a good overview of what happened. Doug Ramsey (Revelation) joins the X-Men and it goes to shit. The X-Virus gets unleashed by 3k (actually Revelation) and it decimates much of humanity, creating a kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland of the world, with the exception of Philadelphia and much of the East Coast of the US where Revelation has set up a mutant "utopia". The X-Men (Animalia, Archangel, Beast, Cyclops, Forge, Glob Herman, Magneto, Xorn, and Schwarzschild) stand against Revelation and his Seraphim. The X-Men bring the consciousness of both Cyclops and Beast into their future counterparts to teach them what has happened so they can potentially stop it.
Amazing X-Men
- This is the core X-Men book of this era and you can tell. We find out Wolverine is now the feral Angel of Death for Revelation. Psylocke defects from Revelation's side, informing Cyclops that Doug means to take over the whole world. Scott brings Darkchild (Magik) back to his side through a brutal mental battle. We are left with a cliffhanger of Apocalypse and Professor X arriving in Philadelphia together.
Binary
- Jean apparently caught the X-Virus and decided to give the power of the Phoenix to Carol Danvers. There is some battling against Madelyne Prior, but Jean is ultimately able to heal and gain the Phoenix back. Carol looks fantastic as a Phoenix enhanced Binary form of Captain Marvel.
Cloak or Dagger
- Got about 4 pages into this and decided to not read it. Cloak and Dagger aren't characters I normally read.
Iron & Frost
- WOW, this was fantastic. Emma is almost killed in the destruction of Avengers Mansion, and thus has to remain in diamond form so she doesn't die (kind of like Tony's arc reactor and the bullets). Tony loses it seeing her "die" and eventually is overtaken by his own AI, becoming the Iron King. When Emma returns to the fold, she eventually dons the War Machine armor against Tony and has to sacrifice herself to bring Tony back to himself. He sends a message to current day Tony warning him about all to come.
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth
- Laura has not only adopted the Sabretooth persona, but is also a Seraph of Revelation. She still keeps a relationship with Gabby and Akihiro, though they refuse to acknowledge Doug's reign. Laura gives her son Alex to them because they are going to escape to Arrako and she feels he will be safer away from Revelation. There is a huge fight on Arakko and Alex gets his powers for the first time, earning the respect and trust of Apocalypse. Not sure if Laura will go back to being a Seraph.
Overall, a good start to the universe and storyline. I hope the side stories stay interesting and we are given enough of the overall story in each Volume to keep the pace going.
Recommend.
August 7, 2026
I came to this book as a fan of the Krakoa era X-Men comics who has been sporadically reading some of the post-Krakoa X books. As someone who normally dreads big Marvel events (a lot of the worst of the Krakoa era were their big crossover events), I was unsure about Age of Revelation but I saw the potential for it to be good. What I found in Overture was a relatively disappointing mixed bag.
What I liked:
The comics penned by Jed McKay were the definite high points for me. The story there was well told and felt high stakes, despite being the sort of future story that will almost certainly be unwritten when the past is changed.
The artwork throughout was pretty good.
What I didn't like as much:
The rest of the stories in this collection had some interesting ideas but across the board the storytelling felt rushed and erratic. This is a feature that I've noticed has become more common in comic books today. There's a lot of characters running around, making statements, and then having anti-climactic fights but it's all kind of sloppy. It has a, "And then they did this, and then they did this," feeling to it. But the stories never have the space to breathe and really establish the emotional stakes of the situation. The writers rely on tropes and shorthand to carry the storytelling load. For example, in one story we learn that War Machine has an adopted daughter in the future and that relationship is then played as being emotionally important. But they never take any time to show the relationship between the two of them or even to establish War Machine as a character in this alternate future. So, as a reader, I never cared about him or their relationship because I wasn't given anything to care about other than, "He adopted me."
The same laziness is present in the set ups for these stories. In the Cloak and Dagger story, the main challenge is they are trying to help hundreds of civilians evacuate and yet, in the past, Cloak has been able to teleport groups of people large distances. So why are they sending civilians in vulnerable buses when Cloak could just be spending all his time ferrying groups of refugees to safer places? There might be a great answer for it but they don't even address it.
Overall, this was a disappointing read. Yet another Marvel crossover event that failed to deliver on its potential.
What I liked:
The comics penned by Jed McKay were the definite high points for me. The story there was well told and felt high stakes, despite being the sort of future story that will almost certainly be unwritten when the past is changed.
The artwork throughout was pretty good.
What I didn't like as much:
The rest of the stories in this collection had some interesting ideas but across the board the storytelling felt rushed and erratic. This is a feature that I've noticed has become more common in comic books today. There's a lot of characters running around, making statements, and then having anti-climactic fights but it's all kind of sloppy. It has a, "And then they did this, and then they did this," feeling to it. But the stories never have the space to breathe and really establish the emotional stakes of the situation. The writers rely on tropes and shorthand to carry the storytelling load. For example, in one story we learn that War Machine has an adopted daughter in the future and that relationship is then played as being emotionally important. But they never take any time to show the relationship between the two of them or even to establish War Machine as a character in this alternate future. So, as a reader, I never cared about him or their relationship because I wasn't given anything to care about other than, "He adopted me."
The same laziness is present in the set ups for these stories. In the Cloak and Dagger story, the main challenge is they are trying to help hundreds of civilians evacuate and yet, in the past, Cloak has been able to teleport groups of people large distances. So why are they sending civilians in vulnerable buses when Cloak could just be spending all his time ferrying groups of refugees to safer places? There might be a great answer for it but they don't even address it.
Overall, this was a disappointing read. Yet another Marvel crossover event that failed to deliver on its potential.
May 7, 2026
For the 30th anniversary of Age of Apocalypse (an innovative and well executed comic book event if ever there was one) Marvel followed the same formula by pausing all of their ongoing mutant featured series and launching sixteen new, three issue miniseries this time focusing on a future dystopia ruled by former new mutant Doug Ramsey who has weaponized his language powers to conquer the Eastern United States and kill untold millions of people. The concept is cool. I like the concept of weaponized language as a metaphor for our world now as well as elevating a character who was initially killed in the New Mutants because writers couldn’t figure out how to have a character without “fighting powers” incorporated into a team book. The results of the event are mixed. Also, instead of publishing the whole thing as an omnibus the event is divided into three 400ish page trade paperbacks. The end of the event doesn’t feel as rushed as the individual series do as they are forced to race through world building plot and resolution in about 60 pages of comic book and the whole thing is actually a more successful nod to Days of Future Past than Age of Apocalypse for the way it ties back into Jed MacKay’s ongoing X-Men series. Big hunks of this are a real slog and no one really got the message that what was cool about AoA was seeing know characters in new circumstances with different team dynamics. Most of Age of Revelation tears down or kills off character in this potential future rather than build anything new which is why it likely won’t have the legacy of AoA, Morrison’s X-Men run or, god forbid, Krakoa which Marvel seems determined to pretend never happened.
Here’s a quick star breakdown on the one shots and series
Overture series and one shots
X-Men: Age of Revelation ***1/2
X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture ***1/2
Amazing X-Men ***1/2
Binary ** Let’s put Jean Gray in a corner so she can’t fix anything
Cloak or Dagger *** Is there an alternate universe Marvel could dream up where anything good or even just not Shakespeare level tragic happens to Cloak & Dagger
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth *** Really liked the art in this series
Here’s a quick star breakdown on the one shots and series
Overture series and one shots
X-Men: Age of Revelation ***1/2
X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture ***1/2
Amazing X-Men ***1/2
Binary ** Let’s put Jean Gray in a corner so she can’t fix anything
Cloak or Dagger *** Is there an alternate universe Marvel could dream up where anything good or even just not Shakespeare level tragic happens to Cloak & Dagger
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth *** Really liked the art in this series
Review of advance copy
I suppose this is set up as the first volume of the event as it has the first book. I'll say this elsewhere, but the event as a whole is okay, but it probably should have been a story in McKay's ongoing rather than a 16-mini series event. The excess weight sinks the ship. Otherwise there are some good bits in the whole thing.
Not the best Age of Apocalypse nod, but also not the worst.
Overture - The opening is fine. Intended to suck you in, it does a satisfactory job of introducing the world, but some of the bits feel done to death, and nothing feels enthralling.
Amazing X-Men - This and McKay's Revelation tell the most important stories of the series. There is an extent to which the brevity leads to a bit of "what even happened" but I could appreciate some of the character moments.
Binary - Doesn't do enough with Carol or Jean to make this worthwhile.
Cloak or Dagger - The new status for Cloak and Dagger is an interesting hook that ultimately proves to have no barb.
Iron & Frost - I wanted to meh this, but there were some notes of potency. This also hints at a lasting effect which is rare for these alt future stories.
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth - I can comfortably meh this one. Maybe if I was reading Laura's ongoing I would have cared more. But then again there's a reason I am not reading Laura's ongoing...
Not the best Age of Apocalypse nod, but also not the worst.
Overture - The opening is fine. Intended to suck you in, it does a satisfactory job of introducing the world, but some of the bits feel done to death, and nothing feels enthralling.
Amazing X-Men - This and McKay's Revelation tell the most important stories of the series. There is an extent to which the brevity leads to a bit of "what even happened" but I could appreciate some of the character moments.
Binary - Doesn't do enough with Carol or Jean to make this worthwhile.
Cloak or Dagger - The new status for Cloak and Dagger is an interesting hook that ultimately proves to have no barb.
Iron & Frost - I wanted to meh this, but there were some notes of potency. This also hints at a lasting effect which is rare for these alt future stories.
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth - I can comfortably meh this one. Maybe if I was reading Laura's ongoing I would have cared more. But then again there's a reason I am not reading Laura's ongoing...
July 5, 2026
A badly organized collection of an entirely mediocre event.
I mean, to start with, we've seen this trope a million times now: things go bad for mutants in the future, so they engage in time travel to try and make it right. Yes, the what-goes-bad is a little different and yes, the how-time-travel-is-done is slightly different. But this is a tired, tired idea.
Jed MacKay's intro & X-Men series are nonetheless pretty OK. All of the other mini-series are unfortunately entirely forgettable. There was a certain je ne sais quoi when Age of Apocalypse did this same thing, and the Age of Revelation mini-series just don't have it.
But then this volume only has the intro and a bunch of boring mini-series, but not the ending. Is that in Book of ... or World of ...? I have no idea. But clearly there should have been a core volume and then an attempt should have been made to collect the miniseries in an organized fashion. There's none of that.
I don't think I have much interest in reading the other volumes, even though I have one checked out from the library at the moment.
I mean, to start with, we've seen this trope a million times now: things go bad for mutants in the future, so they engage in time travel to try and make it right. Yes, the what-goes-bad is a little different and yes, the how-time-travel-is-done is slightly different. But this is a tired, tired idea.
Jed MacKay's intro & X-Men series are nonetheless pretty OK. All of the other mini-series are unfortunately entirely forgettable. There was a certain je ne sais quoi when Age of Apocalypse did this same thing, and the Age of Revelation mini-series just don't have it.
But then this volume only has the intro and a bunch of boring mini-series, but not the ending. Is that in Book of ... or World of ...? I have no idea. But clearly there should have been a core volume and then an attempt should have been made to collect the miniseries in an organized fashion. There's none of that.
I don't think I have much interest in reading the other volumes, even though I have one checked out from the library at the moment.
August 6, 2026
I’m struggling with the premise on this one. I love taking a big swing to do something major post-Krakoa, but to then set that narrative in an alternate future that may even be wiped by the end of this run feels like such a waste of narrative time unless the characters and themes are really compelling. That also gets a bit of a mixed reaction from me — it’s fun getting to see where some of these characters end up once Revelation starts and I found the narratives with Cloak & Dagger and the X-men to be some of the more visually interesting stories. However, the Wolverines story to end this run and the rapid killing off of major characters early with little consequence makes me feel like there’s a creative idea here but one that never impacts the mainline story nor do I think it will once this Age of Revelation comes to a close.
A big bleh for all but the musky dedicated readings. I have no idea what that means but I’m really tired and falling asleep so it might be causing me to drift as I write. Good night, I guess?
A big bleh for all but the musky dedicated readings. I have no idea what that means but I’m really tired and falling asleep so it might be causing me to drift as I write. Good night, I guess?
August 8, 2026
This was a great first book. After finding that this event received lackluster reviews, i was worried that i had wasted money on Overture and Book of revelation. After reading this, i am happy i bought this. Every story on here is great, especially the first two. My only problem with the book is that it’s not as focused on Revelation as it should be, and he hasn’t been set up enough. Issue 0 does a good job, but not good enough. Overall, i’m excited to read book of revelation, this first book was pretty good.
October 29, 2026
Some really cool stuff here; the main story was fantastic and the world of Revelation is really interesting. But geez yet another example of wonky pacing probably coming from editorial. If the story is so big it deserves to be an EVENT give it time to be an event with some impact, not just a mad rush to the finish line across twenty titles.
June 29, 2026
Sammelbände zu bewerten ist immer schwer.
Aber hier haben wir 6 eigenständige Geschichten, die zusammen einfach wie aus einem Guss wirken. Das ganze ist der Auftakt für zwei weitere Bände und ich freue mich jetzt schon darauf
Aber hier haben wir 6 eigenständige Geschichten, die zusammen einfach wie aus einem Guss wirken. Das ganze ist der Auftakt für zwei weitere Bände und ich freue mich jetzt schon darauf
July 5, 2026
The main story's interesting; the side stories aren't.
I don't particularly like the concept of Doug Ramsey becoming an insane Temu Apocalypse with mind control that makes the Purple Man look like a stage hypnotist, but Jed Mackay's Cyclops makes it all worthwhile.
I don't particularly like the concept of Doug Ramsey becoming an insane Temu Apocalypse with mind control that makes the Purple Man look like a stage hypnotist, but Jed Mackay's Cyclops makes it all worthwhile.
August 3, 2026
In almost every future/alternate timeline scenario the X-Men are involved in, it's a post-apocalyptic/dystopian story. At some point, maybe they should stop and look at themselves and think "Is it me?"
October 13, 2026
Reasonable start to what looks like a collection of stories from a massive Marvel Crossover event, where they run a story that has parts in all their comics to get you to buy more. So far, it‘s making sense, and i have always enjoyed X-men.
October 29, 2026
Not totally rubbish, but certainly mostly rubbish.
Not a fan at all and glad I’d stop collecting before this point.
On this list as a representative of the 400-something comics, manga and graphic novels I’ve read this year.
Not a fan at all and glad I’d stop collecting before this point.
On this list as a representative of the 400-something comics, manga and graphic novels I’ve read this year.
Review of advance copy received from Otros
mal ejecutada pero buena idea
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
2.3 stars
Review of advance copy
2.75
The worst thing from X-Men and Marvel I can remember.
The worst thing from X-Men and Marvel I can remember.
Review of advance copy
This event has been a blast
September 20, 2026
A mixed bag but interesting nonetheless.
October 13, 2026
Another good dive into the future revelation timeline and like the stories in here for the most part with only few of them being rushed stories.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews